So everyone’s in a hype about the new X-Men movie because
this week, right after Face Off does mutations (see my blog for a recap J), Ink master join’s in
with actual X-Men Tattoos! The geek in
me is very pleased with this development.
What does not please me is the apparent lack of skill and finesse of
this year’s crop of artists. I had high
hopes for a lot of these professionals but, it seems like every week there are
only 4 that really shine leaving everyone else to scramble to stay above the
bottom. Also, the introduction of Top
tattoo sending an elimination vote, is making this more about the “honorable”
vs “the people out to screw everyone.”
Personally I’m on team “screw everyone” simply because it’s a completion. These people are not your friends, they are
all in your way from you getting 100,000.00, and I don’t know about you… But, I
could totally use that money.
So kicking it off into the flash challenge this week,
host Dave Navarro informs the “inkster’s” that this week they will be working
on precision. Precision in the tattoo
world is using strong lines and design to replicate an object and give a definite
picture as to what the tattoo is supposed to be. Basically, this week they are looking for
attention to the ultimate details that make an exact and clear image. How are we going to test this? This week’s flash challenge is to do a “super
powered” inspired tattoo in three hours.
The results of the flash challenge leave little to be
desired, with Scott trying to pass a black eagle off as a raven and Roland’s “dripping
pizza slice” like cheetah spots; it is up to Matti to take the win and control
of handing out the skulls at the elimination challenge. To be fair he did produce a solid hammer but,
in my opinion Bubba’s tree of immortality clearly demonstrated more
precision. Funny side note, the close up
on Scott made him look like he was about to cry, seriously I have seen my 3
year old make that face… Still, Matti now has to decide whether to screw over
the people who have screwed him or to take the high road. Kyle showed a bit of spineless ness disguised
as crappy attempts at a cunning assault by trying to hint that Matti needs to
sand bag Scott. Really Kyle? That never works out in the long run for you;
I would just focus on producing something solid.
This week’s elimination challenge: Colored portraits of the X-Men. So, not only do you need skills in the art of
precision to just be accurate, you are charge with tattooing some of the most
recognizable characters in all of fandom.
Matti gets to work handing out skulls and it’s quickly apparent that he
went the screw you route. Stacking some
of the harder tattoos into the hands of the least talented tattooer’s in a
clear attempt to sink the bottom of the lowest hanging fruits. The interesting mash up? There are two wolverines, and Matti decides
to use them to go toe to toe with Scott.
With such an iconic character on the line, this could either go really
well for them or ultimately, very wrong.
Now before I get into my notes for the individual tattoos
I want to take a moment to express how disappointing someone’s behavior last
night was. I’m talking about Sausage’s
attempt to call out Kyle. Now, normally I’m
all for calling people out on their shit, and yes Kyle has been a little whinny
about the judge’s decisions (which Nunez admits he is hard on him to push him
to his full potential). Still knowing
these facts I cannot excuse Sausage for trying to step up to Kyle. Just last week Sausage whined the Scott
stacked the deck in his favor at skull distribution. He threw a huge bitch fit claiming that it
wasn’t honorable and whined that Scott was being a coward because he is playing
to win. I just think it’s ridiculous how
in one breath you chastise another player for complaining about the judges and
then in the next you complain about another contestant.
To the notes:
Gentle Jay: The
subject was young professor X. What
showed up was an over worked and partially beaten mess. There was no real accuracy to pick from, each
piece seemed to be a slightly tweaked version of the original and the nose and
forehead wrinkles really bothered me.
Jim: I still hate
this guy, and every week he reminds me more and more of my son’s father… Hell
even my mom can see it now. All of that
aside, the color of this tattoo for one is so soft that it already looks
faded. I don’t even want to know what
this thing will look like in 5 years let alone 10. The details aren’t crisp and it seems kind of
muddled.
Bubba: Okay so
Mystique in the movies is drop dead sexy.
So please, tell me why you made her look like a lollipop headed
alien. The hair and the forced shine
just killed any hope for this disturbing view of a gorgeous character.
Melissa: Melissa
got Bishop, and her canvas seemed determined to screw her out of any
detail. In short it was her wise choice
to bring in Halo’s opinion that clearly saved this piece for her. It was a well done middle of the pack piece.
Halo: Now here is
a man who clearly knows what it is to do a color portrait. His rendition of Rouge was damn near flawless
and should have been recognized as a clear contender for tattoo of the
day. Clearly Halo knows his shit. Yea, I voted for Halo.
Scott: Scott’s
wolverine looks somewhat confused to me, I think it’s the awkward arch to the
eyebrow that looks questionable. The
face is nice but the outfit itself looks comic book and not portrait. Kind looks like there’s a level missing to me…
Roland: This is
lacking outline, shape, design, placement; I cannot even tell you who this is… Kitty
maybe… I don’t know but it’s rough. For
me it really went south somewhere in the creation of the awkwardly shaped
mouth. Yikes…
Sausage: The
tattoo is very close to professor X, however my major beef with it has got to
be that one side of his face seems more set in and it lacks overall balance.
Matti: You lost the
wolverine off buddy, this thing is dark and when I say dark I mean, when this
thing heals it’s still going to be massively dark. It in a way looks way more cartoony than I
originally was expecting. Kind of let
down Matti.
Kyle: Kyle had
beast and generally I liked it. Was it
an exact portrait? No, was it good enough to advance yes?
King Ruck: Magneto
here seems to be a mix of drawing and portrait, it’s just another middle of the
road honestly.
Keith: This Storm
had better thank god that balance wasn’t the challenge because her cheek bone
pulls away from any truly wonderful (which weren’t many) from this blown out
tattoo.
Lydia: Who the
hell is this? She just made an androgynous
uni-browed wonder with a giant red x… This is sad. Really… Just gut wrenching.
In a surprise they bring out their special guest judge,
Hugh Jackman, which would have been cool… But, he picked a wolverine tattoo
which I thought was a little cheap seeing as Halo clearly smacked this one out
of the park. Still the bottom consisted
of Roland, Lydia and… honestly who really cares because between those two they
were horrible. In the end we finally
dump Roland, which to be honest I’m totally okay with. And with a so long until next week all I can
say is thank god the whining was minimal, maybe next week we can focus back on
doing good tattoos…
No comments:
Post a Comment